Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Posts focus on what not to do in the workplace, based on examples from television, film, and other popular media.
The late Michael Crichton had an interesting contrarian streak for a popular fiction novelist. In one of his last novels, State of Fear, he stuck his thumb in the eye of the global warming/climate change “consensus” (it remains the only novel I remember reading that had footnotes). Readers saw his contrarian streak a decade earlier, […]
As an avid Parks and Recreation fan, I cannot help but love the chemistry between newlyweds Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt. Long before they were joining their dysfunctional families via a wedding with a punch heard round the world and a unity quilt (complete with a patch dedicated to waffles, of course), these two were […]
This season, the network that originally brought you “COPS” is giving the oversaturated police-television show market a somewhat fresh take through its cop comedy called “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” The show stars Andy Samberg as Det. Jake Peralta, a “talented, but carefree” (Fox’s words—not mine) detective dealing with his new hard-nosed, rule-following boss, played by Andre Braugher. […]
Some colorful (ahem) corners of the Internet were abuzz this week after a report surfaced that an anonymous adult male fan of the cartoon show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was fired from his job after admitting his fandom to his coworkers. The firing of this “brony” (and let’s just assume for the sake of this […]
When is $765 million a bargain? Apparently, when you’re the National Football League. By now most people know that the NFL agreed to pay $765 million last month to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 4,500 players and their families, who alleged that the league concealed what it knew about the dangers of concussion-related […]
No discussion of the film Horrible Bosses is complete without covering Kevin Spacey’s character, David Harken. Although he is arguably the most intimidating and even frightening of the three horrible bosses (two of which I covered in earlier posts, #1 and #2), his workplace conduct gives rise to the lowest litigation value from an employment […]
Part of our mission here is to keep all you bibliophiles out there engaged and entertained. (I happen to be one, so I know we’re a rare breed.) Our book today is Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.
I think it’s safe to say that now, in 2013, we as a society are overrun by reality TV. The Truman Show starring Jim Carey debuted in 1998. In case you have forgotten, that was the movie where the whole world watched one man’s every move on a daily basis, from brushing his teeth to […]
As I mentioned in my July post, the film Horrible Bosses has enough material for weeks’ worth of blog posts. With three atrocious bosses blatantly making the lives of their employees miserable and disregarding a long list of employment laws, it is certainly a plaintiffs’ attorney’s dream situation and an HR manager’s nightmare. I am sure […]
If you’ve worked in your share of offices, you’ve probably seen at least one coworker post the following sign: “The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.” Ah, yes. Morale. It’s six little letters, but it’s a big concept–especially when you start considering all of the ways that employee morale relates to productivity and profitability. Happy […]